Unbelievable
by Jaakaappirunoilija
Summary: For a small moment, Pitch had had everything he ever wanted: Children had believed only in him, their dreams turned into twisted nightmares. But his moment of glory had been short: he was defeated by the Guardians, with the help of their newest member, Jack Frost. Pitch swore that he'd have his revenge, especially on the Winter Spirit. Now he has found a perfect way to do it..
1. Chapter 1

**_The First Chapter: I 've Lost A Battle But The War's Not Over Yet._**

_Daddy! _

_What is it, sweet-heart? Did you have a bad dream?_

_Yes. I-I'm scared._

_Don't worry, it was just a nightmare. There's nothing to be scared about them._

_How do you know that, Daddy?_

_It's simple._

_They aren't real_.

* * *

As long as he had known, nightmares had been Pitch's only company. He wouldn't use such words as a friend or a partner, which were filled with so many positive feelings that he felt as if he'd puke. They were his source of life, without Nightmares he'd wither away and die, like a common living being. As long as the Nightmares were around, he was immortal. But it wasn't all fun and games for him. It was also an endless torture. Even if he was their king, it didn't make him invulnerable against fear.

Oh, how he longed the days of the Dark Ages, when he had been the most powerful one in the whole world. In those days, almost everyone had a cloud over their heart, one without a silver lining. People would whisper his name, praying that he wouldn't bring misfortune to their village. Mothers would tell stories of how un-named beasts would take away the children, who'd in their turn try to stay awake the night, stiff from thinking the stories would become reality if they closed their eyes.

Despair. Suffering. Anguish. Grief. Hatred. A loved child has many names. A feared creature has many, many more.

Almost delicately, he had planted those seeds inside naive human minds. With care he had watched over them, until the seeds had grown to a full-blooming trees of lost hopes and rotten dreams, with fruits ready to be picked. One could say both Pitch and human race got their benefit from this one-sided deal – after all, fear keeps you alive. Pitch knew that very well. He was the perfect example, wasn't he?.

But nowadays, in the every sense of the word, Pitch was only a shadow of what he had been. The shining globe of believers reminded him of his defeat every day. His army of Fearlings had shrunk to contain only the familiar fears to Pitch, his own fears. If he stepped out of his dark caverns even for a moment, Pitch had to be always on guard to be sure no one would notice him and decide to get rid of him, this time once and for all.

To think the Boogeyman himself, the King of Fear and Nightmares, was afraid of something. Ridiculous, isn't it? The truth can be often ridiculous, but it will not stop being the truth.

Those cursed Guardians always found a way to mess up with his plans. Last time he had been so close to success, but that pesky Jack Frost had to stick his nose in other people's business. Had he just stayed still in Antarctica or joined forces with Pitch, and Pitch might've let the boy live. But Jack had refused, even defeated Pitch as a one of the Guardians. There'd be no more mercy left for the boy or for any of them, for that matter.

"Soon, my darling", he whispered as he patted his Fearling, " We'll have our revenge. They will understand how foolish they were, trying to oppose a strength like I."

How would he do it, was still a mystery to Pitch, but he knew he'd come up with something.

* * *

When a familiar creature stumbled to Pitch's lair, he saw the chance to make his dream of revenge come true.

"Well well, hello there Doppel", Pitch greeted the creature, " It's been awhile since we last met...700 years, give or take?"

Doppelgänger wasn't pleased at all to meet Pitch Black. Foolishly it had thought that the Boogeyman was gone for good, and the lair would've been empty for a next resident to arrive. It knew the prize for its mistake would be high, and cautiously answered:

" Y-Yes, long time no see, P-Pitch. I-I was just pa-passing by a-and y-you must be busy and actually I-I'm quite busy as we-well so I'll b-be on my..."

" Leaving already?" Pitch circled around Doppelgänger, " Please, stay a little longer, you're my guest now...and I don't want to disappoint my guests. That'd be very bad manners."

While continuing the circling, Pitch smirked sinisterly: " And I'm willing to bet that you and I'll have a lot to discuss, isn't that right?"

He stopped behind the poor Doppelgänger, who visibly shivered in fear. " I-I don't think I-I'm catching w-what y-you're talking about", Doppelgänger gathered the shreds of its courage, " I-I don't want t-to get mi-mixed in th-this quarrel be-between you and th-the Guardians. "

" Poor Doppel, you are already too deep in this. It's impossible to back away now", Pitch started almost gently, suddenly grabbing the Doppelgänger and roughly turned it to stare directly in to his golden eyes, and hissed:" But get your facts straight: This is no ordinary fight. This is war. And you want to be on the side that wins, don't you? "

" Y-yes", Doppelgänger's last line of defense was crushed. " That's a good boy", Pitch said (even though he wasn't sure was it boy at all) and let go of the creature. " All I want from you is only a one, simple task. That's all. "

Doppelgänger grunted disbelievingly. After all, there had been _reasons_ why it had avoided The Nightmare King for hundreds of years. When Pitch described the idea he had formed in his mind while confronting Doppel, it grew terrified and shrieked: " N-no! T-that's so-something imp-possible for m-me t-to do! A-and i-if th-the Gu-Guardians wo-would fi-find out it was m-me, I-I'd be do-done for!"

" I believe that'll you do just fine. Think carefully, which fate will be worse for you: the Guardians or I? "

A moment of silent hesitation before the final decision.

" I-I'll do it."

" I knew you would."


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Second Chapter: Weather Report: Hail and Breeze**_

* * *

_13__th__ of December – North Pole_

At last, it was a leisure day in the Nicholas St. North's usually bustling toy workshop. The Christmas this year had been the most busiest since North had started his work as a Guardian, mostly thanks to the damage done by Pitch Black during his rise to power. The belief in wonders wasn't as easily restored as belief in dreams or in memories. But North did not worry – everything had gone smoothly and the Christmas had been a success. Every children, wherever around the world they lived, had found their present hidden in the sock or under the Christmas tree. The celebration was now over, and it was time to take a breath before starting to make preparations for next Christmas. In fact, North had couple marvellous ideas in store...

Most of the Yetis had taken the chance to visit their families and friends in their village, hidden in the middle of fields of snow and ice. Elves, in the other hand, were as lively as ever.

" Now, be careful! " North's booming voice echoed, as he watched worrisome how the elves were climbing all over the place and taking down the christmassy decorations – at least a part of them, because there were always decorations no matter was it winter or summer. Unfortunately, none of the elves wasn't down in the receiving end. North tried his best running after the falling candles and statues before they'd hit the floor. Someone younger than him such as Jack or quicker as Bunny would have suited the job better. North managed to save three Christmas tree decorations and one unlucky elf, but the fourth ball avoided his grasp and crashed on the floor, flinging the shards around the hall. A Russian curse slipped from North while trying to avoid stepping on the shards. Of course, at a moment like this, it was compulsory that a visitor should appear, though this one was expected.

"Hej, Santa. How was the Christmas? " Asked a brown-bearded man, face covered with a horned mask. He was escorted by Phil, one of the few yetis who'd stayed in North Pole, making sure that everything would be ready when the "Tjugondag Knut" arrived. The elves, frightened of the man's appearance, quickly hid out of sight. North, in the other hand, wasn't afraid of the old friend. He motioned Phil to take care of the mess the elves had caused (Phil groaned as a small protest) and greeted the visitor:

" Welcome, Knut. Come and join me for a dinner. How about some warm glogg for a starter?" North set the elf he had saved down with the remaining decorations and guided Knut one of the smaller rooms. They ate together and exchanged news – mostly North did the most talking and Knut listened, nodding and asking for details, especially about the conflict that had happened during last Easter.

When the last crumb had been cleaned from the table and one could see the bottom of one's glass, Knut remarked:

" Shadows are moving. "

North's eyebrows joined together when he asked for explanation: " What do you mean, danger? "

" Perhaps. For you and your team." Knut lifted himself up, motioning that he was going to leave. As a goodbye, he said: " I hope we'll meet again next year."

" Don't worry. I might have done my job for many years, but I'm not going to draw my pension yet!" North let out a mighty laugh. Knut gave a faint smirk in response, and left the North Pole.

North remained, staring after Knut. His friend had changed almost to a different person during these years. Before so jovial and boisterous man, the center of the festivities, had reverted to a quiet and cautious. Former Knut had not only warned about the on-coming danger, but offered a helping hand. North couldn't stop thinking that would his destiny be similar to Knut, if one day children stopped believing in Santa Claus?

He wasn't let to ponder about the question for long, as a loud noise made North almost jump out of his boots. As he rushed towards the sound, he noticed a layer of frost in the pillars, about a dozen frozen elves and Phil sharing the same fate. Was this Jack's doing?

North heard a chuckle somewhere behind him. As North turned around to see who it was, he tripped over the slippery ice which had appeared behind his feet. Grunting, North got up, but whoever the intruder had been, he had disappeared a long time ago. North knew Jack loved to play tricks and especially freeze the elves, but this was going too far. North decided that he'd have a talk with the boy in the monthly meeting of the Guardians held in couple of days. If Jack didn't appear there, North would go looking out Jack himself. But before any of that, North needed to melt the elves and Phil...

* * *

_14th of December - Somewhere over the Europe_

Twisting streams of golden sand floated under the clear night sky to every home and room, giving sleepers pleasant dreams. It was truly a breathtaking sight – sadly there was seldom anyone else to see it. Sandy didn't mind that fact, after all it'd be more difficult to get the little ones to sleep if they were awake. After having covered Ireland through and through with the dreamsand, it was time for him to head towards western part of the Earth. Forming his favourite way of transportation, a two-level aircraft, Sandy set the course to the next continent.

As he was crossing over the Atlantic Ocean, Sandy noticed that a chilling wind started to roam around his plane. It could've been nothing worth of mentioning, as this time of year windiness varied a lot, but no ordinary breeze was able to blow away his dreamsand. Neither this was Mother Nature's work. She usually let Sandy glide with thermal columns, but never tried to disturb his work.

Continuing his ride to headwind, Sandy tried to create a protective veil over his plane. It didn't even do a little help. The gust shattered the veil almost as soon as Sandy had made it. This wasn't looking good at all, and the wind was getting fiercer.

When Sandy steered the aircraft away from the icy storm, the frozen propeller let out a puff of golden sand and stopped working. He tried his best dreamsand mechanic skills to make it fly again, but the gravity took a grip of the plane and started to pull it towards the deep embrace of the raging sea. The wind dissolved the sand-made plane around Sandy, who closed his eyes and prepared himself for a harsh landing.

* * *

Thank you for favourites, follows and reviews! I hope that you've enjoyed the story so far.

Knut, or Nuuttipukki, is a Northern Christmas tradition. Knut (or rather a group of Knuts) would come after Christmas and ask people for the Christmas leftovers. It was the sign that the Christmas had ended. Even though it's based on a Danish saint called Canute Lavard, the day is celebrated in some parts Sweden and Finland.


End file.
